Various techniques have been used to deliver an oral care benefit to one's teeth. In some cases, techniques have been used attempting to detect the presence of plaque on one's teeth. Such techniques include, for example, the application of various compositions to the teeth which are intended to visually indicate the presence of plaque. It would be highly advantageous for a person brushing one's teeth to obtain feedback immediately upon brushing regarding the brushing effectiveness.
Various techniques have also been used for creating a whitening effect of a user's teeth. Current at home tooth whitening techniques require several days for the user to see the effect of the treatment and are generally considered to be inconvenient and in some cases difficult to use. It would be desirable to provide techniques which give a more immediate whitening effect so as to encourage the user to have a regular brushing program in addition to giving the satisfaction of whiter teeth.
A technique marketed by BriteSmile, Inc. involves providing a tooth whitening composition which includes an oxidizing compound which when applied to a stained tooth and exposed to actinic light is activated to facilitate tooth whitening. The light is provided by a device which has a generally crescent-shaped surface with spaced optical outputs located along the surface. In practice the device would be applied for an extended period of time. Examples of compositions and devices of BriteSmile, Inc. are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,628, 5,713,738, 6,162,055, 6,254,388, 6,343,933, 6,416,319 and D438,622 and in published patent application US2002/0137001. Other U.S. patents dealing with the whitening of teeth are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,661,070, 4,952,143 and 5,032,178. Typically, where lights have been used to activate the oxidizing agent such lights have been xenon lamps, flash lamps, mercury short arc lamps, metal halide lamps, tungsten halogen lamps, etc.